Re: T61p & the Nvidia Problem......

The Nvidia GPU debacle is only limited to a certain line of GPU, and they are no longer producing them. There are lots of information on this, and you can read up on it, if you are really interested in the background story.

Re: T61p & the Nvidia Problem......

The problem is actually an intrinsic problem of the gpu chip, where heat soaks somehow causes the problem with the GPU electrical wiring. It means the chip doesn't handle as well as the other the sudden change of heat. Basically 7XXX, 8XXX, 9XXX and their workstation variants were all effected. Lenovo fixed a part of the problem by updating the BIOS. They modify the way the chip was cooled down.

You just have to consider than failure percentages were just a little higher than normal but many people and apparently the failure rate of T61p's has actually been fairly low in comparison to other 8600m-equipped laptops.

To conclude if you want to use you T61p for gaming and a lot of 3D applications, or everything who will use intensively your GPU, your laptop maybe will die more quickly. If you want to use it for browsing the web, watch videos and "a normal home or office usage" it should be ok.

Re: T61p & the Nvidia Problem......

It is the bump material that is the culprit and not really the underfill that is the root of the problem.

The rate of thermal creep increases as the temperature rises, so the higher the temperature of the GPU the more likely it would suffer the thermal creep failure. While, electromigration for many solder material can be nearly temperature independent between 0 to 100 degrees celsius.

So what this means, is that even if you keep the GPU extremely cool, but still run lot of graphic intensive processes, then the GPU would still fail. But this rate of failure will occur faster at higher temperature as the result of thermal creep failure (this is why overclocking without proper cooling can kill a GPU or CPU faster).

Re: T61p & the Nvidia Problem......

In reality the failure rate of these is very low. There are more than a million in the field and there are relatively few that have experienced these symptoms. I don't view these symptoms as inevitable.

I have a T61p at home that my wife uses and we've not had any problem with it. I think you should approach this like any purchase of something second hand and (out of warranty?)... consider that you are buying it at a discount and used, and not from the manufacturer. If you are concerned with the cost to repair / replace any of the components outside of warranty, perhaps you might look into a post warranty maintenance agreement?

The intel based video equipped models won't have the risk of this particular symptom, but there is no guarantee that either will run indefinitely.. Of course, that is true of all manufacturer's systems, and pretty much any electronic device.

One of the keys to longevity is to keep the fan and heatsink cleaned out. You can use a can of compressed air to clean out the fan and heatsink periodically.

I have a T61 I bought in Oct. 2007. The video just blew up on it yesterday with absolutely no warning. It had been running perfectly fine, then screen started flickering, went to a BSOD on the nvidia driver nvlddmkm.sys, and that was the end of it. No video on restart to either laptop screen or external monitor.

When I bought this, it was a choice between Lenovo and Dell. I ended up paying a bit more for the Lenovo based on reputation and reliability. My mistake. Six year-old Dell Inspiron still running fine with no problems.

I'm an IT professional by trade (own business for the last six years), and really disappointed in Lenovo. This was my primary business computer as I work a lot on-site at clients' offices. Hadn't budgeted or planned on buying a new laptop this year as I had just upgraded memory and hard drive last yeart to extend the T61's life. Joke's on me.

Just orderd a Dell Vostro as a replacement. What I paid for the T61 is way too much for only three years of use.

Mark, I read in one of your posts you suggested replacing the T61 (with Quadro 140M) system board with one that had Intel graphics. My system board is part # 41W1489 (14.1" wide screen with 1440 X 900 resolution). What part # could I use to substitue as the rest of the laptop is in perfect working condition?